Missing

Alternate title: Grief

You’ll always need a crutch
Just to function
You’ll always be wanting.
Your life will be the same
But you won’t.

Every person you come across
With two legs
Will be a reminder of what you lost.

Your friends will complain about
Blisters on their feet from their new shoes.
You’ll say nothing because you
Can’t relate.

That commercial of a little girl painting her toenails
Will make you burst into tears.

You’ll try and tell yourself that
One leg is enough
You didn’t really need the other one.

You’ll hide it with long pants and tennis shoes.
You won’t wear shorts in the summer anymore
Or go swimming in public.

Some days you’ll forget that the plastic
They gave you isn’t your own flesh.
You’ll look at someone born without legs
And be grateful for the time you had.

Some days you’ll cry because
You can’t remember what it felt like
To run on the wet sand of a beach anymore.

Those who know will walk on
Egg-shells around you.
They will tell you to
Keep your chin up
Put one foot in front of the other
And one day you’ll walk again.

They will ignore the fact that
Learning to walk will never
Bring back your leg.

You are no longer Mike or Susan.
You are the guy with one leg
Or the girl without hands.

Susan is so brave for learning to paint
With her feet, isn’t she?
Mike overcame all the odds and
Didn’t give up. Inspiring.

Susan and Mike didn’t have a choice.

Mike was going to be a basketball player.
Susan would give up painting just to
Hold the hand of her husband.

Reviews

[Chris Shaw]

Grief is about loss and whether that loss is of another person or the loss of a limb, the subsequent consequences can be devastating. Learning to live with it is painful, takes time and courage. Your poem expressed loss in a different way and conveyed it well.

Chris